Page 5 - ALG Issue 3 2021

Chairman’s
comments
What a difference a day makes, and ten hours of sunshine can lift the spirits. Following on from the wonderful and unbelievable hot spring, then back
to the cold and frost of March, this has been a very difficult start to the allotment growing year, and even the blue tits have suffered.
But hopefully that’s all over now, and the soil has finally begun to warm up; lockdown might get lifted in certain parts of the country, and things could be returning to normal.
Several innovations have begun on certain allotment sites in Manchester and are probably being repeated all over the country. Some sites are trying to grow gardeners!
I know it sounds silly, but there is
a genuine need out there for good accessible gardening courses in your local area, easily accessible and cheap. The horticultural courses run by Myerscough College and the like are excellent, and could not be better, but for someone who just wants to learn how to run an allotment and grow some flowers and vegetables, a locally sourced and simplified garden course might just be the way forward.
Working with trained horticulturalists on an allotment and learning the basic
principles of gardening is something many new inexperienced gardeners look for, and once they have learnt something then they will want somewhere to practise these new skills. The cheap solution would be to feed them into the ‘community garden’ field, a group of budding allotment gardeners working a small plot, working together creating a community garden, orchard, or vegetable patch. It is a very attractive picture, it ticks many socially acceptable boxes, but in my opinion, it does not go far enough.
If the candidates in these ‘learn how
to garden’ schemes came from an allotment waiting list, or were offered a place on the scheme following
their application to go on to a waiting list, and were then ‘guaranteed’ an allotment when their name hit the top of the waiting list, then in my opinion it would be tremendously worthwhile. All allotment stewards or letting officers know the frustration of contacting the next five names on a list, and only two turn up, because the others are tired of waiting, moved house, or just changed their minds.
It would probably be better if these courses were offered to brand new tenants, but the scheduling would be difficult, as allotment contracts are handed out throughout the year and often after the tenant has had a
I know it sounds silly, but there is a genuine need out there for good accessible gardening courses in your local area
considerable wait. So, is there a need for a virtual e-learning course? Probably.
However, until there is a surge in the creation of new allotment sites, which may not be just around the corner, the community garden and ‘grow your own’ gardener will have to do. Well done to Manchester Council for introducing the scheme (described in the NW section of this magazine) and we hope to have some comments from Manchester Council in a future issue.
Community gardens are controversial to some members of the National Society, but l would prefer future allotment holders to have some gardening experience before they are let loose on my site!
John Irwin
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Allotment and Leisure Gardener 5